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Awake
Oct 27, 2010 12:50:39 GMT -5
Post by miokalia on Oct 27, 2010 12:50:39 GMT -5
It was well that Doron had been distracted by the empathy pushed on him, since he normally would have been argumentative as to his being unnecessary. So he said nothing of it. That minor egotistical item seemed so frivolous under the haze of the other dragon's emotional gestalt. Secondary to the misery was his concern that this experience or something like it might be applied to all the present company.
He wanted to access Question again. To plead with him to spare Xoto from it. In this place, Xoto's frailties were thrown wide open. What was usually a machine equivalent to an animal was now a rickety, fragile apparatus. Although one which was apparently conscious. He had little doubt that either Question, or this 'Feeler' entity had peered right inside Xoto and found the history and now knew the architecture of that thing's mind.
It was also possible that maybe this was only directed towards him. The notion of the Confuscian saying: "Who must do the hard things? He who can." came to mind.
"I must go forward", Xoto said. "I must defend myself and mine. So that we are not done away with during the processes that take place here. Even if it kills me."
"I will also go forward.", said Tdoht.
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Awake
Dec 6, 2010 3:38:58 GMT -5
Post by The Union of Tinis on Dec 6, 2010 3:38:58 GMT -5
Thus all eyes turned to the dragon. But he was not looking at them.
"Ahem," said Camus after no one spoke for almost a full minute. "And you?"
One of the dragon's eyes moved to look at Camus. As he had never done this before, the number of people present creeped out by the single eye movement was more then half. Soon after the other eye followed, as if simply delayed.
"I hope that I am not the only one fully unsettled by this place. As if something is cutting into my skull with a million micro lasers. Digging in deep and breaking specific neural connections. Or perhaps reading them. Maybe both. I fear that I am in great danger here, yet do not feel the same is true for most of you.
"But even though the technological magic being performed here seems... so alien and threatening, I can't help but feel like I've been here before. But, I've been feeling like that since before I woke up. If I could ask but once more of Question...
"Would I lie to them to trick them into feeling safe?"
The voice did not respond for almost ten seconds. "Yes."
The dragon smirked. "Interesting. I shall go forward." The dragon stepped forward into the transit space. After a quick hug between Onk and Quar, Quar bounded out and the rest still in the room of Question followed.
The new room seemed featureless for a bit after all those moving forward were in. Of course when confusion was starting to set in, the exit closed very quickly, almost nabbing at least one tail.
Those that had a sense for static electromagnetic fields of great magnitude felt something off for a brief moment in that department. Everyone's lights went out for a brief moment. A flicker that provided just enough time for a new figure to be with them.
Tdoht was the first to notice the new comer, again, seemingly standing just beyond the wall of the room. The creature was a rodent of some sort, but perfectly hairless. It was tall, thin to the point of obviously being horrifically malnourished, female, and quite nude. Her exposed skin had many patches of discoloration against her otherwise gray hue, some were obviously bruises, others seemed much more greenish. Her eyes were open, but white spheres. Her mouth was also open, and sported only a few visible teeth.
"Hello there," said Tdoht as others began to notice her. She said nothing in response. The room began to shake slightly and everyone felt acceleration.
Sana felt herself edging towards the only thing possibly more spooky in the room, Doron. Onk stepped forward.
"Specter, are you here to ferry us?"
"Where are you going?" is replied in a raspy voice.
"I'm going to meet Glorvan," said Onk. "I hope."
"And who are you?"
Some glances among the explorers were exchanged.
"He is Onk, the holy critter," said Ferdale.
Onk gave Ferdale an annoyed look.
"What is holy?" asked the creature in the wall.
"Oh, I get it," said Ablitz. "The last one was Question. You must be Answer."
The transit space, where ever it was going, which seemed to be down, stopped with a shutter. "What is holy?"
"Great, it wants answers, not conversation," said Camus, swishing her tail. "Holy is a term used to signify someone or something as being in tune with spiritual matters or having spiritual power."
The creature in the wall was silent. They began moving again.
"This is going to get old fast," said Swall.
"How old are you?" asked Answer.
"What... I'm thirty seven," answered Swall. The room stopped again.
Everyone looked at Swall. "Fine, I'm forty two, happy?" The room began to move again.
The creature again spoke. "Has the rabbit ever killed anyone?"
Sana's eyes went wide. "No," she said. The room continued on its path.
Another twenty seconds passed as thoughts churned in various minds and processors.
"What is the best donut shop in Yillow?"
"Has anyone been to Yillow besides me?" asked Ablitz. The room stopped again. "Fine," she said as various heads shook no or did nothing. "I'd have to say its Mocky's Pocky and Donut Business Like Emporium on seventeenth street, not the one on third." The room started up again.
Izixs smirked. "What an odd way to encourage obedience. Keep us answering questions, I guess truthfully, until we reach our destination. What a dull game."
The creature in the wall turned her head slightly to look at the dragon.
"What is the proper way to apply perturbative Einstein gravitation to a space time with N spatial dimensions and one time dimensions with arbitrary mass arrangements provided the possibility of a singularity forming is not allowed by the masses at any point in the past, present, or future?"
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Awake
Dec 8, 2010 2:49:15 GMT -5
Post by miokalia on Dec 8, 2010 2:49:15 GMT -5
Doron perked up and said quickly (and cryptically), "A mother scolds her child that she warned him not to sleep on the trampoline because he already has to use rubber sheets due to bedwetting"
The room shuttered again and continued moving. This caused some of those present to cast a strange expression towards him.
Doron eventually said, "That question wasn't what it appeared to be. I'm just going to leave it at that."
Xoto asked, "What was it about?"
The creature looked at Xoto and asked, "How many licks does it take to get to the center of a tootsie pop?"
"Theoretically or literally?", Xoto said, "I have a tongue but I don't produce a saliva that breaks down sugars.
So theoretically infinite. Or none, I could just swallow it whole I guess."
The room kept moving, Xoto shrugged.
Doron then said, "Have you ever even had a tootsie pop?"
The creature turned to him and then asked, "In 1911 on LaFraey beach, what activity did you partake in for 18 hours straight that caused considerable consternation for passers-by?"
"Oh my god seriously that's two. Not fair.", Doron said.
The room screeched to a halt, and all eyes were on him.
"If anyone in here speaks Kohtohkhan, than please cover your ears now.", Doron warned, then he said, "Self-exploration."
The room creaked into motion again. Then Xoto said, "So it seems that whoever says anything that isn't a question get's asked a question next", he then looked at the rodent to verify his hypothesis.
She looked at him momentarily, then passed him over and asked Tdoht, "What is the purpose of pants?"
"to... wear... them?", Tdoht said. The room kept moving.
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Awake
Dec 8, 2010 4:30:39 GMT -5
Post by The Union of Tinis on Dec 8, 2010 4:30:39 GMT -5
The creature was silent for a time, staring at no one. Finally its silence ended. "What are your origins?"
"I grew up in a small sea side village along the western coast called Maka," said Onk. The room shook to a halt once again. "Hey, that's the truth! That is where I come from."
Still the room was motionless. Several eyes turned to Onk accusatively. "Really, that's where I was born and spent most of my early years. After a particularly nasty sweep of the village by the regime when I was around twelve my sister sent me to live with my order and I've been with them ever since."
Sana smirked. "I define the origins as being an infinite number of points, each with a different velocity and each possible velocity being represented including different directions and net speeds, and when time equals the beginning of time the location of all the origins is the same as is every place."
The room began to move again. "Seems our host likes to play games," murmured Camus.
"Actually no," said Doron. "Sana's just talking about the big bang."
"Ah, our true origins," said Camus swishing her tail, kind of annoyed all the same. "I guess she did say it as plural. So only Onk answering wouldn't of worked."
The creature's left arm fell off.
"Now that's uncalled for," said Izixs.
"Why am I here?" asked the creature.
Ferdale took up this question. "Obviously you are some sort of test or means to gain further insight into us. I guess then if that is your purpose it is also why you were created and trapped within this place and made to ask us questions."
The creature was again silent for a bit. No one wanted to inquire of it for fear of gaining another personal question. Well, for a moment at least.
"Why did this place and its denizens make me remember that pain?" asked the dragon.
As the creatures right leg seemed to come loose, yet it remaining up with its slightly slouching posture, the creature then asked, "Why did you abandon your principles of not killing on that day?"
The dragon did not answer. His visage was motionless. The room stopped.
"Hey, First Speaker guy," said Camus. "Give us an answer or I'll try to make one up."
"Its a trick question," said the pale beast in their midsts as it stared at the creature in the wall that was already down two limbs. "What was abandoned that day was not my principles, but my self entirely. A person like myself needs to be taught from an early age an ethic of kindness and love, else there's a chance that we'd edge towards a vicious madness as we grow old. Some of us keep our senses easily. In fact almost all of us do, myself included. But even for the strong if we habitually forget the ideals, a danger arrises that a viciousness shall become preferable to the wakeful mind. Tis a number of species that have similar problems, some more, some less. But most creatures also have a breaking point, where the realities one faces are so hard that the only option that seems to make sense is to consciously abandon what one considers their better judgement so that the pain can be eased. As I know that abandonment of this judgement is more then being ok with a violent action, it is the failure of my self. Because that better judgement is a part of me. Without it, I am not Izixs. I am a beast, dangerous and wild. Even in the wizardy of my lost love, the most I would do was harm so that an opponent would not be able to harm any more. Though others were less restrained with such at such times, harming to the point where the opponent might die, it is incredible that I was able to maintain being myself. But when she was held, near death, having been... through too much... I stopped being me for a time.
"Heh, I couldn't even kill the dictator as he killed my father. Yet for her my hand killed over a hundred. That pain will sear so much more then any other in me. That is the true abandonment. If I had abandoned what I believe is right it would not hurt nearly as much."
The creature in the wall was still, as was the room. But then the creature's body came loose from its head and collapsed. But the head remained suspended in their vision. "One of you has passed the test, but what of the rest of you?"
"I don't understand," whispered Swall.
The creature's head rotated to him and it grinned. "As the game changes, what root darkness dwells in your hearts?"
Onk stepped forward, his muzzle nearly touching the wall where they thought they saw the head hovering over the collapsed and decayed body. "To seek the pains and evil inside the mind, hearts, and souls of others is either a prudent thing to do, when one is to be lead and controlled by those you wish to pry open, or an evil act that does nothing but give one reason to hate. Your game is either a sign that we were mistaken in coming here or a riddle. So, the answer to that and all your other questions is the same. The truth."
The head nodded. "That is correct."
Then nothing seemed to happen. The room did not shake back to moving. The creature obviously didn't fall apart further.
"So," said Xoto. "Can we get going then?"
The head turned to him. "You are almost there. But things are not ready yet. The count down is nearly finished. And yes, I am Answer."
Swall shook his head. "This... is all very confusing."
"Hah, you'd expect any different?" asked Ablitz. "Maybe you should of spent more time solving problems instead of being in management."
Swall gave the fox a very cross look. Onk stepped back from the wall. Sana took Doron's boney hand. Billy took a few pictures of the head. The film would turn out a very odd picture later.
"So you were meant to ask us questions, why?" asked Sana.
The creature, still without a body, answered for once. "I will not be as verbose as my sibling. As you seek answers here, you should be seeking the truth. Our game was to make sure you were in the frame of mind of honesty. The one you seek isn't in the mood to lie to you, but also very much hates it when people lie to him."
"Is that it?" asked a skeptical Ferdale.
"Mostly. I am also to ferry you safely to the inner chamber. Even if you doubt the methods of the others, you are still here by your own choice. Our preview of the events leading up to this moment ended upon your entry. So as you are free to determine your fate, we should respect that. Of course, I'm also not privy to all the arguments Question may have provided to you. He's kind of twonk. So I apologize if he was, unseemly."
"How much longer?" asked Onk, the fur on his tail still on end from his close encounter with the wall face.
"Twenty minutes. I hope you are alright with waiting, given that setting the timer on this thing over a thousand years ago must of been tricky."
"Fair enough."
There were a few in the room very curious about why the head had lost its sickened and creepy body in such a graphic fashion. A couple of those wished to put it out of their minds.
"So why the zombie routine?" asked Billy.
The head answered by asking, "Why the thong?"
"I think I'll shut up now," was Billy's very correct answer.
"Because if we're to face death," said Onk, answering Billy's question. "It is better to face her now when we are her guests instead of her prey."
"It could also be a reminder, that maybe despite Question's answers, we should be careful," said Swall. "Playing good host can only go so far. Even with a promise. If we try to cause trouble, we might very well become visions for the next group of explorers."
The head did not seek to clarify.
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Awake
Dec 8, 2010 23:32:33 GMT -5
Post by miokalia on Dec 8, 2010 23:32:33 GMT -5
Doron finally asked the head, "What happened to you?"
The head turned to him and said, "Well if you're going to ask that of me, then perhaps you have some more questions to ask yourself as well"
"I don't think we're the same thing.", Doron said, "I don't know where you came from or what you are. I'm simply asking because this presentation carries a great deal of implicit pain with it."
"Astute...", the head said, "But obvious. When you wish to convey something, you speak within the symbolic and emotional framework of whomever it is you are attempting to convey knowledge to."
"Why a sickly body falling apart?", asked Doron.
"Why an animated skeleton?", asked question.
"Because pain strikes fear, impossibility inspires contemplation.", said Doron.
"You're lying.", she said.
"Because.", he said.
"No.", she said.
"Don't make me talk about this here", Doron said, "I'll just wait out the 20 minutes."
"I'm going to advise against that", she said, "You didn't need to be here, but you committed to being here. As I said before, the one you seek does not have time for people to lie to him. You of all people know how long 20 minutes can be made to last."
"Because contradiction is life.", he said, "Because I failed back then. I failed to find happiness and I failed at even being decent. I was a disgusting creature that could not act on his better judgements. I despised everyone. I didn't make the Carruthian loop box, it was my idea but I couldn't make it work. When Rebeckah Sparhow actually made the thing, I decided that I would never, ever, again be presented with an opportunity for as perfect of a suicide as that system could theoretically provide. Then every time anyone spoke or thought of that system, they would think of me, the person who inexplicably killed himself with it. And the person who actually came up with the mechanics behind it.
I probably would have succeeded, had Rebeckah not removed most of the ballast batteries for the return-phase of the system the day before. So it shut down on it's own, but not after doing what you see here. I was forced into conditions far beyond anything in the observable universe. I'll spare you the technical minutiae of what that entailed.
It was fitting because in that I came to realize how fragile intelligent things are. And that it didn't matter if I was disgusting.
Now I was, in fact, beyond disgusting. Already decayed. Far beyond anything I had done before. Judgements cast upon me regarding this were now ridiculous and obvious. I was no longer an object suitable for subtle ridicule. Nobody is going to judge a creature which is by every aesthetic definition, dead. But somehow not.
In becoming this, I was finally freed from both my misanthropy and my affliction of disgusting habits."
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